A genomic profiling study of African American women with breast cancer found that about one in five carries an inherited abnormality in at least 1 of 18 genes associated with breast cancer susceptibility. Such mutations were more prevalent among women with aggressive triple-negative breast cancer,...
A European phase III clinical trial found that lymphedema was twice as common among women with sentinel lymph node–positive early breast cancer who had axillary lymph node dissection compared to those who had axillary radiotherapy. Overall and disease-free survival 5 years after treatment...
Low-dose weekly administration of paclitaxel resulted in equal progression-free survival but reduced overall toxicity compared to every-2-week dose-dense administration for women with higher-risk early-stage breast cancer who have undergone surgery, according to a phase III randomized trial....
A survey of 214 U.S. oncologists and hematologists found that more than 80% encountered cancer drug shortages between March and September of 2012, and many reported that shortages affected the quality of patient care they were able to provide. As physicians were forced to substitute more expensive...
Cervical cancer mortality was reduced by 31% over a period of 15 years among women screened with biennial visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA), or vinegar, delivered by primary health workers in a large randomized study conducted among 150,000 women in India. The researchers estimate this...
Ten years of adjuvant treatment with tamoxifen reduces breast cancer recurrence and mortality among women treated for early-stage estrogen receptor (ER)–positive breast cancer, according to results of the British phase III aTTom study. These findings, presented at the 2013 ASCO Annual Meeting ...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved lenalidomide (Revlimid) for the treatment of patients with mantle cell lymphoma whose disease has relapsed or progressed after two prior therapies, one of which included bortezomib (Velcade). Clinical Trial The approval was based on the results ...
A randomized phase III study found that the targeted drug sorafenib (Nexavar) stalls disease progression by 5 months in patients with metastatic differentiated thyroid cancer that has progressed despite standard radioactive iodine therapy. If approved in this setting by the U.S. Food and Drug...
A randomized phase III study found no improvement in overall survival after the addition of bevacizumab (Avastin) to standard first-line chemoradiation for glioblastoma. Patients who received bevacizumab also experienced more side effects compared to those treated with chemoradiation alone. The...
Adding bevacizumab (Avastin) to chemotherapy regimens with or without a platinum drug improved outcomes for women with metastatic or relapsed cervical cancer treated in a randomized phase III study. Presenting the results at the 2013 ASCO Annual Meeting (Abstract 3), lead author Krishnansu Sujata...
In the Clinic provides overviews of novel oncology agents, addressing indications, mechanisms, administration recommendations, safety profiles, and other essential information needed for the appropriate clinical use of these drugs. Indication On May 29, 2013, trametinib (Mekinist) was...
Spouses and long-term partners of patients diagnosed with human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive oropharyngeal cancer were no more likely to test positive for oral HPV infection than people in the general population and have a low risk of HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer, according to the Human Oral...
Adding granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF, Leukine) to ipilimumab (Yervoy) at a 10 mg/kg dose significantly improved survival compared to the same dose of ipilimumab alone, according to results of a proof-of-principle phase II trial. One year after the start of therapy,...
Although a majority of U.S. oncologists report satisfaction with their careers, many say they have experienced at least one symptom of burnout, according to a Mayo Clinic–led study released during the ASCO 2013 Annual Meeting (Abstract 6533). “Oncology can be a tremendously rewarding...
Preliminary results of an ongoing trial suggest that the anti–PD-1 antibody lambrolizumab has significant antitumor activity in patients with advanced melanoma and is well tolerated. The data were presented by Antoni Ribas, MD, PhD, Professor of Hematology/Oncology and Surgery, and Director...
The addition of everolimus (Afinitor), an mTOR inhibitor, to trastuzumab (Herceptin) and vinorelbine significantly extended progression-free survival in women with HER2-positive advanced breast cancer, compared to treatment with placebo plus trastuzumab and vinorelbine, in the phase III BOLERO-3...
A phase III clinical trial has found that pazopanib (Votrient), an oral multikinase inhibitor, extends disease-free survival by an average of 5.6 months, compared to placebo, in women with advanced ovarian cancer who had initial successful treatment with surgery and chemotherapy. “Our...
A lack of clinical trials aimed specifically at younger patients with breast cancer could be partly to blame for their poor survival rates, according to a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Study Details The study analyzed 2,956 women diagnosed with breast cancer...
A new study by researchers Fox Chase Cancer Center has identified a disconnect between clinical trials that look at new treatments for metastatic pancreatic cancer and the patient population most likely to be diagnosed with the disease. Clinical trials typically enroll, and base their findings on,...
In a phase III study, patients with previously untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) achieved an improvement in progression-free survival when treated with ofatumumab (Arzerra) in combination with chlorambucil vs chlorambucil alone. The study evaluated safety and efficacy of ofatumumab plus ...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved two new drugs, dabrafenib (Tafinlar) and trametinib (Mekinist), for patients with advanced or unresectable melanoma, the most dangerous type of skin cancer. Dabrafenib, a BRAF inhibitor, is approved to treat patients with melanoma whose tumors...
Frequent heartburn was positively associated with cancers of the throat and vocal cord among nonsmokers and nondrinkers, and the use of antacids, but not prescription medications, had a protective effect, according to data published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of...
A new study on prostate cancer describes a novel class of drugs developed by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers that interrupts critical signaling needed for prostate cancer cells to grow. In men with advanced prostate cancer, growth of cancer cells depends on androgen receptor signaling,...
Survival rates have increased significantly among patients who received blood stem cell transplants from both related and unrelated donors, according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The study authors attribute the increase to several factors, including advances in HLA...
Mayo Clinic researchers have used next-generation genomic analysis to determine that some of the more aggressive prostate cancer tumors have similar genetic origins, which may help in predicting cancer progression. The findings appear online today in the journal Cancer Research. Gleason Patterns...
Treating pediatric leukemia patients with a liposomal formulation of anthracycline-based chemotherapy at an intensified dose during initial treatment may result in high survival rates without causing any added heart toxicity, according to the results of a study published online in Blood, the...
Physicians have more information to share with their patients about the benefits and risks of low-dose computed tomography (CT) lung cancer screening following the publication in the New England Journal of Medicine of the results of the first (of three planned) annual screening examinations from...
Researchers at Mayo Clinic have developed a promising method to distinguish between pancreatic cancer and chronic pancreatitis, two disorders that are difficult to tell apart. A molecular marker obtained from pancreatic “juices” can identify almost all cases of pancreatic cancer, their...
A large study reports that the vast majority of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma relapses are detected based on symptoms, abnormal blood tests or abnormal findings on physical exam, suggesting that CT scans, which are currently a routine part of follow-up, may be unnecessary. Researchers found that...
A long-term study of men with stage I seminoma, a common form of testicular cancer, suggests that surveillance for cancer recurrence, rather than additional chemotherapy or radiation therapy, is sufficient for the vast majority of men who have undergone successful surgery for their cancer....
Results from a phase I study of a new oral targeted drug, idelalisib (GS-1101), show the agent has potential as a therapy for relapsed or treatment-resistant chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). The drug produced rapid and long-lasting tumor shrinkage in half of the patients treated with...
In the largest clinical trial to date to examine the efficacy of PARP inhibitor therapy in BRCA1/2 carriers with diseases other than breast and ovarian cancer, the oral drug olaparib was found to be effective against advanced pancreatic and prostate cancers. Results of the study, led by researchers ...
A phase III trial in patients with stage III non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) concluded that standard-dose radiotherapy (60 Gy) is safer and more effective than high-dose radiotherapy (74 Gy), extending survival by 9 months and causing fewer treatment-related deaths. While 60 Gy is already...
Findings from a large, prospective 20-year study indicate that a high level of cardiovascular fitness in middle age reduces men’s risk of developing and dying from lung and colorectal cancer, two of the most common cancers affecting men. Better fitness also reduces the risk of dying from,...
Results from a phase I study show that combination therapy with ipilimumab (Yervoy) and the investigational antibody drug nivolumab led to lasting tumor shrinkage in approximately half of patients with aggressive, advanced melanoma. The results will be presented at the 2013 ASCO Annual Meeting in...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved the cobas EGFR Mutation Test, a companion diagnostic for erlotinib (Tarceva). This is the first FDA-approved companion diagnostic that detects epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene mutations, which are present in approximately 10% of...
Despite previous scientific studies suggesting that the diabetes drug metformin has anticancer properties, a new, first-of-its-kind study from Women’s College Hospital in Toronto has found the drug may not actually improve survival rates after breast cancer in certain patients. The study,...
Researchers at Johns Hopkins have identified a gene that, when repressed in tumor cells, puts a halt to cell growth and a range of processes needed for tumors to enlarge and spread to distant sites. The researchers hope that this so-called “master regulator” gene may be the key to...
Patients with advanced bladder cancers that are surgically removed might need additional therapy to prevent recurrence in certain situations, a new UT Southwestern Medical Center study suggests. The 5-year international study led by researchers at UT Southwestern validates the use of a marker...
The pages of medical history are dog-eared with breakthroughs that have transformed medicine and saved lives. One of those dog-eared pages belongs to Emil Frei III, MD, known to his colleagues and friends as Tom. In the dawn of oncology, Dr. Frei, along with his associate, Emil Freireich, MD, did...
Postmenopausal women aged 55 to 75 with early-stage breast cancer can be safely treated with breast-conserving surgery without postoperative radiation therapy, according to a double-arm, prospective, randomized study presented this week at the American Society of Breast Surgeons Annual Meeting. The ...
FDA has granted daratumumab breakthrough therapy designation for the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least three prior lines of therapy, including a proteasome inhibitor and an immunomodulatory agent, or who are double refractory to a proteasome inhibitor and...
Smoking increased the risk for developing colon cancer, and female smokers may have a greater risk than male smokers, according to data published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. “Globally, during the last 50...
Tamoxifen and three similar drugs reduce breast cancer incidence by 38% in women at an increased risk of the disease according to a Cancer Research UK study published in The Lancet today. In the most comprehensive study to date scientists calculate that one breast cancer would be prevented for...
Tamoxifen is a time-honored breast cancer drug used to treat millions of women with early-stage and less-aggressive disease, and now a University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) team has shown how to exploit tamoxifen’s secondary activities so that it might work on more aggressive breast...
Obese men were more likely to have precancerous lesions detected in their benign prostate biopsies compared with nonobese men and were at a greater risk for subsequently developing prostate cancer, according to data published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the...
When retinoblastoma is diagnosed in racial and ethnic minority children whose families don't have private health insurance, it often takes a more invasive, potentially life-threatening course than in other children, probably because of delays in diagnosis, researchers at Dana-Farber/Children's...
Nearly two-thirds of children receiving stem cell transplants returned to the hospital within 6 months for treatment of unexplained fevers, infections, or other problems, according to a study performed at Dana-Farber/Children’s Hospital Cancer Center in Boston. Children who received donor...
More than a quarter of a century after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, many children and teenagers who developed thyroid cancer due to radiation are in complete or near remission, according to a recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology ...
The American Society of Clinical Oncology, Community Oncology Alliance, ION Solutions, and The US Oncology Network today commended a bipartisan group of 124 lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives who sent a letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) expressing concern...